I did this, knowing full well that the amount of money that I committed to VKL was well under what I would reasonably spend, especially given the fact that I already knew I was going to spend 3/4 of it on 7 skeins of beautiful, undyed alpaca in order to make a sweater for my mother. Which would leave me enough for possibly one skein of yarn for myself. One skein? Seriously... who was I kidding? I love when we perform tiny little tomfooleries against our own brains... and do it like we're actually going to get away with it. Silly little primate!
I wound up spending a lot more money than I should have. A lot. Enough that I probably shouldn't buy any more yarn for the rest of the year. But rather than fall down the rabbit hole of money spent (too much!), I'd much rather take pictures of the yarn I did buy.
First up, Mom's yarn. I should probably preface this by saying that I've worked with this yarn before. When I went on the Hampton Yarn Hop last summer, one of the last places we visited was the Long Island Livestock Company. It was there that I met a llama!
I bought a worsted weight 92% alpaca, 8% wool blend in a deep, heathery black that I used to make this sweater:
It's called Francis Revisited and it's available free on Ravelry.
And it's my new favorite sweater.
Of course, the second my mom saw it she decided she had to have one for herself. I can't blame her, really.
She wanted the same color as mine, but unfortunately by the time I got to VKL, there wasn't enough left. There was, however, this rich, dark camel.
 |
| I'm sure she won't be disappointed |
I can't wait to start working with the Long Island Livestock yarn again. It's some seriously beautiful stuff. I thought I was going to run out of the heathery black when I was making my sweater, and I contacted them to send me another skein. Despite the fact that it was months later, they were able to match my yarn with an entirely different yarn. That's service! You can (should) click through the picture to Like them on Facebook.
My next purchase was, of course, perceived as a a necessity. Upon further inspection (when I got on the train and went through everything, tiny bag by tiny bag, then again when I got home and could lay them all out on my bed, then again after I put them back in my shopping bag so I could take them out a week later and look at them as one whole purchase one more time. Yeah.), I was able to confirm that the purchase was, indeed, a necessity.
I know there are lots of indie dyers out there. A cursory search on Google, or better yet, etsy, will show you that's true. And I know there are lots of NYC stores currently carrying indie dyers, and those stores get a big hurrah from me for doing so.
But can I ask how it is that I haven't yet seen Creatively Dyed Yarns in any stores?? How are shopowners missing this yarn?
Creatively Dyed Yarn is the brainchild of Dianne Lutz, who hails from Trinidad and Tobago but now lives in South Carolina. Dianne calls upon her roots to inspire her colorways, and I've truly never seen anything like her yarn - my personal favorite is that middle skein, which has so many different colors working together. All 3 skeins are incredibly vibrant and beautiful—no camera could do them justice—although you can see I tried. If you're a fan of rich, vibrant colors, be sure to check out her site.
My next purchase was driven by my current obsession with alpacas and alpaca farms. This yarn is so silky smooth in the skein, and the colors are so rich, I already have a set of colorwork handwarmers in mind. It comes from Furnace Mountain Alpacas in Lovettsville, Virginia. The yarn is a sportweight and is incredibly lofty and soft. I can't wait to work with it.
And finally, the motherlode purchase. You have to ignore this picture. It's not a good picture. But you can't completely blame me. It's not entirely my fault. Frankly, I'm of the belief that nothing but the human eye possesses the capacity to process this color properly. Through a lens it looks black, greyish black, raven black, or not-quite-blue, but it is none of those things. In fact, I'm fairly certain that each person that looks at this yarn must see a slightly different color, because when I saw it I said, aloud, "Oh it's like a really deep, dark evergreen. Like a forest at night," and The Doo said, "No it's not. It's like a midnight black." I think the color is called Midnight Blue, so there you have it. I'm afraid to even say how much it cost. Let's just say The Doo bought one skein and I bought one skein, so that I wouldn't have to feel so crazy just buying two skeins, and even then it still felt indecent. I shouldn't be spending money like this on yarn when people are starving, but The Doo just keep telling me "You deserve it."
The picture I took really doesn't do it any justice. The below image was slurped from a fellow ravelry user, and I think she did a better job than I.
 |
| copyright trishfitz |
The yarn is called Kitten, it's a 65% Cashmere, 35% Silk blend, and it is all milky silky goodness. It is like petting a kitten, and I could easily sit and pet it all day long without ever knitting it into anything. I'm really in love with it. Maybe if I stick googly eyes on it, I won't ever have to knit anything from it and can just sit in my house petting it all day long. It would also be nice to wear as a wig, pretending it's my real hair. Is it weird that I sincerely think these things?
It comes from Tess' Designer Yarns in Portland, Maine, and it wasn't the only beautiful yarn she had, but I had to purchase it because I couldn't stop petting it. Even now, as I type, I can't stop petting it. It's a little ridiculous.
Well, those were the yarns. I hope you aren't taking out your calculators to figure out how much I spent, because that would be lame on your part and unfortunate for me. Just trust me when I say it was too much.
Methinks VKL Post # 2 will involve some delightful amigurumi, so stay tuned...
Flossie
0 comments:
Post a Comment